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THE STAY AND THE f-TAFF TAKEN AWAY. ^hd 



DISCOURSE 



OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE 



HON. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, LL. D., 



DELIVERED IN 



THE CHURCH ON CHURCH GREEN, 



DECEMBER 15, 1844. 



By ALEXANDER YOUNG. 



BOSTON: 

CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 

1844. 



1"^°! 

y^5 



At a meeting of the New South Society, held after the afternoon service on 
Sunday, December 15th, 1844, Chief Justice Shaw presiding as Moderator, it was 
unanimously 

Voted, That the thanks of the Society be presented to our Pastor, the Rev. 
Alexander Young, for the impressive Discourse this day delivered by him on 
occasion of the decease of our lamented fellow-worshipper, the Honorable Wil- 
liam Pbescott, and that he be requested to furnish a copy thereof for the press. 

Voted, That a Committee of three members be appointed to present this request 
to Mr. Young, and take measures for carrying into effect the purposes of the 
foregoing vote, and that Hon. Lemuel Shaw, Benjamin Rich, Esq. and John 
DoBR, Esq. constitute this Committee. 

R. L. EMMONS, Proprietors' Clerk. 



boston: 

PRINTED BY FREEMAN AND BOLLES, 
WASHINGTON STREET. 



DISCOURSE. 



Isaiah, III. 1—3. 

BEHOLD, THE LORD, THE LORD OF HOSTS, DOTH TAKE AWAY FROM JERU- 
SALEM AND FROM JUDAH THE STAY AND THE STAFF THE JUDGE, 

PRUDENT AND ANCIENT, THE HONORABLE MAN, AND THE COUNSELLOR. 

Yes, he takes them all away, each in their turn 
and order, each in his own good time, in his own 
appointed way : and the Lord's time is always the 
best time, and the Lord's way the best way. In his 
great loving-kindness to their friends and to society, 
they may be permitted to live many days upon the 
earth, to pass the bounds assigned for the life of 
man, to outlast their contemporaries, to outlive their 
generation ; and yet, at length, they too must be 
taken away. 

" They must lie down 
With patriarchs of the infant world — with kings 
The powerful of the earth — the wise, the good, 
Fair forms and hoary seers of ages past, 
All in one mighty sepulchre." 

" It is appointed unto all men once to die." 
There is no exemption, and no escape, from this 



fundamental, this universal law of our being. If 
there were any, the virtues and services enumerated 
in the text might have spared to us yet longer the 
venerable man, whom we this day miss from his 
accustomed place, and whose recent and sudden 
departure, we, my brethren, in common with his 
family and this whole community, have so much 
reason to deplore. 

The text indicates who are the stay and the staff 
of society — who are the real benefactors of their 
country and their race — who they are by whom the 
interests of a community are upheld and guarded, 
and its rights vindicated and maintained. They 
are not the noisy demagogue, nor the unfledged 
patriot — not the mere practical man, nor the man 
of one idea — not the small politician, any more 
than the minute philosopher ; — but the far-seeing 
and wide-reaching statesman, the man of enlarged 
views and comprehensive mind, the man of unde- 
viating rectitude and unbending integrity. They 
are the tried and the trusted magistrate, the wise 
and impartial judge, the upright and honorable 
man, and the prudent and experienced counsellor. 
These are really the stay and staff of a common- 
wealth, — its lights, its ornaments, its blessings. It 
is to them that the people must look for support and 
guidance in all emergencies. In ordinary times, in 
times of quietness and tranquillity, the people may, 
perhaps, trust to ordinary men, and may leave it to 



the conflicting parties to watch one another's move- 
ments, and to see to it that the State incurs no detri- 
ment from the lack of pohtical wisdom or moral 
principle in their leaders. But in times of difficulty 
and- trouble, that must arise, sooner or later, in 
every community and nation, — times hke 'those on 
which we have now unfortunately fallen, — the peo- 
ple will find that in trusting to such men they have 
leaned upon a broken reed, and that nothing can 
supply the place of sound judgment, experience and 
integrity, in their rulers and public men. 

1. The first stay and staflf of a people, next to 
rehgion, is the Magistracy — the Judge's bench and 
office — the high Courts of Equity and Law. Here 
is the great barrier, the ocean-dike, which society 
sets up to repel the encroaching surges of iniquity 
and crime, which constantly threaten to overwhelm 
it. It is here, that the foundations of a people's 
security and happiness are laid — in their unwavering 
confidence in the decisions of a tribunal, lifted by the 
tenure of its office, by its independence alike of the 
interference of the government and the dictation of 
the populace, above the favor and the fear of man. 
Such a tribunal as this, — and such a one, thank 
God, we have, and have long had, in this common- 
wealth, — to which the poor and humble have equal 
access with the rich and powerful, and by which 
their rights are equally regarded and protected — a 
tribunal which cannot be warped by flattery, nor 



intimidated by threats, nor lured by bribes — is the 
best emblem and representative of that awful tribu- 
nal before which we are all one day to stand in 
judgment. There is something august and ven- 
erable in the aspect, nay in the very idea, of such a 
tribunal — in the idea of its independence, its immo- 
bility, its absolute impartiality. 

The comfort and happiness of a people depend 
far more upon the constitution of its Courts, and 
the character and qualifications of its Judges, than 
upon the theory or the form of its government. 
For usually the ruler of the State can have little 
to do directly with the affairs of the subject, and 
can affect him but little in his private concerns 
and his domestic relations ; and if the subject have 
a refuge in the independence of the Courts, he has 
a security against this interference. Even under a 
monarchical form of government, like that of Eng- 
land, the citizen may be protected by Law in the 
quiet possession and undisturbed enjoyment of his 
dearest and most valuable interests. His house 
may be literally his castle, and his life, liberty and 
property may be perfectly secure from invasion. 
Whereas, under a republican or democratic form of 
government, where the Law has little or no author- 
ity, as in some parts of our own country, outrages 
may be committed that would not be tolerated 
under the despotisms of Russia or Turkey, and no 
man's life is secure from the summary vengeance 



of an organized mob. One of the gravest offences 
that can be committed against the pubhc weal, is 
to endeavour to bring the Judiciary into contempt, 
by lowering the standard of their qualifications, or 
encroaching upon their independence. The men 
who attempt this know not how grievous a wrong 
they are doing to themselves and to their children, 
as well as to their neighbours and fellow-citizens. 
There is no class of persons in a State whose labors 
are more arduous, whose services are more valuable, 
and whose influence is more salutary, than the 
Judges'. When they are driven from the Bench by 
a paltry economy, the people suffer and mourn ; 
and when they are removed by death, the stay and 
the staff are taken away from Jerusalem and from 
Judah. 

2. The next stay and staff of a community is 
its honorable men — not those who have this title 
from courtesy, or from some office which they have 
happened to hold, but men of pure character, 
uncompromising principle, and incorruptible in- 
tegrity. These men are " the salt of the earth," 
which, diffused through society, preserves it from 
corruption — the leaven that keeps it from stagna- 
tion, fermenting the whole mass, and stirring it up 
to right actions and worthy deeds. And men of 
this description are not confined to any one class or 
calling in hfe. They are not the exclusive pro- 
perty of any political party or religious sect. They 



8 

are to be found not only on the Bench and at the 
Bar, not only in the Senate and at the Council-table, 
not only among those who have been favored with 
a liberal education and are engaged in the liberal 
professions, but also, and quite as often, among the 
merchants, the mechanics, and the farmers. You, 
my hearers, can point, as well as I, to many such 
honorable men, whom we have known in this city 
and commonwealth. And, thank God, the race is 
not yet extinct. We have still among us some of 
" nature's noblemen," men who make us proud of 
the city in which we dwell, men who would adorn 
any rank in any nation, who would feel a stain on 
their good name far more acutely than a wound on 
their body, and whose integrity is equalled only by 
their munificence. 

One of the saddest sights that can be witnessed, 
is intellect devoid of integrity, talent divorced from 
principle. And one of the most alarming signs of 
the times in a republic, is when men of this charac- 
ter have an influence, acquire popularity by their 
eloquence, raise themselves to office by the low arts 
of intrigue, and sway the destinies of the nation. 
My friends, is not here our great danger, our great 
deficiency at the present juncture ? It is univer- 
sally admitted, that we have intellect and talent 
enough in this country, among our politicians and 
statesmen. What we lack is integrity, honor, prin- 
ciple. We want the thoroughly honorable man 



9 

the incorruptible statesman, the pure-minded patriot. 
And we never can expect to prosper, or to live at 
peace among ourselves, until more of moral and 
religious principle is infused into our pubhc men. 
Unless this is done, the glory, if not the sceptre, 
will inevitably depart from us. When the honor- 
able man fails, or dies, the stay and the staff are 
taken away from Jerusalem and from Judah. 

3. There is another stay and staff which society 
needs to uphold and guide its steps — and that is 
the ancient and prudent Counsellor. He is the 
great balance-wheel in the political machine, re- 
volving with a quiet and steady motion, regulating 
the movements of all the lesser wheels, and keeping 
them from flying madly from their centres. He 
brings the gathered wisdom of years and the lights 
of a various and mature experience to bear upon 
the new questions, which are constantly springing 
up to perplex and agitate society. The science of 
government is not a matter of intuition, but a sub- 
ject for deep study and long reflection. On this 
point, " days should speak, and multitude of years 
should teach wisdom." 

Such was formerly the universal, as it is the na- 
tural sentiment of mankind. Of late years, how- 
ever, in this country, opinion seems to have some- 
what changed ; at least there has been a tendency 
in an opposite direction. From the general decay 
of the sentiment of reverence among us, there has 



10 

been manifested of late years a disposition to take 
the management of important afiairs out of the 
hands of " the ancient and prudent counsellor," 
where our fathers placed it, and to commit it to the 
inexperienced and immature. 

We might have learnt, however, by this time, 
that this is all wrong, false in theory, and bad in 
practice. It is against nature, against reason, 
against our own experience, and against the Word 
of God. We know what was the fate of Reho- 
boam, when " he forsook the counsel of the old 
men, that stood before Solomon, his father, while he 
yet lived, and consulted with the young men, that 
were grown up with him, and which stood before 
him." ^ And we may rest assured, that whenever the 
prudent and ancient counsellor is removed, whether 
by prejudice, or faction, or the hand of death, the 
stay and the staff are taken away from Jerusalem 
and from Judah. 

Since we were last assembled, brethren, in this 
our house of prayer, the grave has closed over the 
mortal remains of one of our fellow-worshippers, 
who worthily sustained the several relations enume- 
rated in our text, of a Judge, an Honorable Man, 
and a Counsellor. A sense of duty to the living, 
as well as to the dead, prompts me to speak to you 

' 1 Kings, xii. 6 — 8. 



11 

of him, in the words of truth and soberness — both 
as a deserved tribute to a beloved and honored 
name, and for our own benefit and improvement. 
We may all be made the wiser and the better, I 
think, by the contemplation of his character and 
example. 

William Prescott was born on the 19th of Au- 
gust, 1762, at Pepperell, in the county of Middle- 
sex, in this State. He sprung from a most honora- 
ble parentage.^ He was the only son of a New- 
England farmer, who drove his own team a-field, 
and ploughed his own acres. That same farmer 
was Colonel William Prescott, who, on the 17th 
of June, 1775, at the head of the raw recruits of 
the New-England militia, twice broke the serried 
ranks of the British grenadiers and light infantry, 
as they marched up the slope of Bunker Hill, and 
drove them in confusion and dismay to their boats. 
He was blessed with a most excellent and pious 
mother; and, like many other eminent men, he 



^ The first of the family, who came over to this country in 1640, 
were substantial farmers, from Lancashire, in England, and settled in 
Groton, the town adjoining Pepperell. Benjamin Prescott, the father 
of the Colonel, was chosen in 1738 the Agent of Massachusetts at the 
English Court, to maintain the rights of that Province in a controversy 
with New Hampshire, respecting their boundary lines. He declined 
going, however, on account of the fatal prevalence of the small-pox at 
that time in London. Edmund Quincy, who went in his place, actually 
died there of that disease in the same year. By a singular coincidence, 
Prescott died at home of a fever, in the course of the same year. 



12 

owed to her early influences some of the pecuUar 
and prominent traits of his mind and heart. She 
possessed the same firmness, mildness, and high 
principle which characterized her son ; and the 
profound veneration for the Deity, and the deep 
religious sentiment, which were obvious to all who 
knew him intimately, were probably implanted in 
his breast as he stood by his mother's knee. It 
was, doubtless, his strong filial reverence and affec- 
tion that prompted him to retain in his possession 
his paternal acres, and led him to spend a few 
months every year, in rural hospitality, at the old 
family homestead.^ 

He received his early education at Dummer 
Academy, inByfield, under the tuition of the famous 
Master Moody, and entered Harvard College in 
1779, He graduated in 1783, with distinguished 
rank, in a class with Harrison Gray Otis, Ambrose 
Spencer, and Artemas Ward, all of whom survive 
their eminent classmate. I have recently been in- 
formed by one of them, that " he ranked with the 
highest scholars of his class — that he was always 
distinguished by the firmness of his character, the 

* Colonel Prescott was with General Gates, as a volunteer, at Sa- 
ratoga, at the surrender of Burgoyne, in October, 1777. He after- 
wards retired to his estate at Pepperell, where he resided till his death, 
October 13th, 1795, at the age of 70, much respected by his towns- 
men, among whom he had great influence. His widow survived till 
1821, cherished and rendered independent in her circumstances by her 
only son. 



J 



13 

mildness of his manners, the correctness of his con- 
duct, and the purity of his morals. These qualities 
made him a universal favorite with his classmates, 
and secured the approbation of the Faculty." He 
studied his profession at Beverly, with Nathan 
Dane, well known as the compiler of the great Di- 
gest of American Law, and the founder of the Law 
College at Cambridge, and still better known as 
the author of the celebrated ordinance which for- 
ever excluded slavery from the whole vast territory 
northwest of the Ohio river. Having been admit- 
ted to the Bar of Essex, in 1787, Mr. Prescott 
immediately opened an office in Beverly, where, 
however, he remained but two years. In 1789 he 
removed to Salem,^ as affording a wider sphere for 
professional talent, and there continued in con- 
stantly increasing practice till the year 1808, when 
he transferred his residence to this town, and at 
the same time united himself with this parish, 

' Whilst residing at Salem he formed the connexion, which for fifty- 
one years was to him a source of unmingled blessings ; he was mar- 
ried in 1793, to Catharine G. Hickling, the daughter of Thomas 
Hiclding, Esq., the Consul of the United States at St. Michael, in 
the Azores. Of their seven children, four sons died in infancy. Ed- 
ward, the sixth child, a graduate at Cambridge in 1825, a Minister of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, and rector of St. Mary's Church in 
Salem, New Jersey, died suddenly, April 11, 1844, on the third day of 
his voyage from Boston to St. Michael, at the age of 40, greatly la- 
mented by his parishioners, as well as by his family and friends. The 
surviving children are William H. Prescott, the historian, and Catharine 
Elizabeth, the wife of Franklin Dexter, Esq., of Boston. 



14 

then under the pastorship of the Rev. Dr. Kirk- 
land. 

Here he remained, engaged in professional busi- 
ness, of which, probably, he had as large and im- 
portant a share as was ever enjoyed by a member 
of the Suffolk Bar. For a long period he was I'e- 
tained, on one side or the other, in almost every 
important case that came into our courts, both in 
the counties of Suffolk and Essex. From an early 
hour in the morning, to a late hour at night, he was 
chiefly devoted to his profession, though also partly 
occupied with public affairs, in which he always 
took an interest. In 1812, he was appointed by 
the Legislature of Massachusetts, on a committee 
with Nathan Dane and Joseph Story, " to collect 
the charters, and the public and general laws of the 
late Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay," 
which were printed in 1814. In 1818, he was ap- 
pointed to fill the place of Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas for the County of Suffolk, the se- 
cond year after its organization ; during the first 
year it having been occupied by his classmate, Mr. 
Otis. Twice he was solicited to take a seat on the 
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court of this State ; 
once, under his friend Chief Justice Parsons, who 
urged it very strongly upon him. But he steadily 
declined this high honor, preferring the more active 
duties of his profession. 

Mr. Prescott was not, however, so much en- 



15 

grossed by the arduous duties of the Law, as not to 
find time for the service of the pubhc. On the in- 
corporation of the City of Boston, in 1822, he was 
elected the first President of the Common Council. 
He was at different times a member of the State 
Legislature, a Representative both from Salem and 
Boston, a Senator from the County of Essex, and a 
member of the Executive Council under the admin- 
istrations of Governor Gore and Governor Strong.^ 
He took an active and prominent part in the Con- 
vention of Delegates assembled in 1820 to revise 
the Constitution of this State. With another emi- 
nent member of this parish, his most intimate friend, 
George Cabot, he was chosen by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts a delegate to the Convention held at 
Hartford, in 1814; an office, which although at- 
tended with great personal inconvenience, he under- 
took, from that high sense of duty which controlled 
all his actions, and most faithfully executed. He 
was never ashamed of having been a member of 
that Convention. He was a Federalist, of the school 
and the principles of Washington, and through fife 
kept those principles ever before him as the guide 
of his opinions and conduct. And now that that 
old Federal party is extinct, and is no more an ob- 
ject of alarm, it will be frankly admitted, I suppose, 

1 Mr. Prescottwas a Representative from Salem, from 1798 to 1803, 
inclusive, a Representative from Boston in 1811, 1821, and 1823, and a 
member of the Executive Council in 1809, 1812, and 1813. 



16 

even by its warmest opponents, that in its ranks 
were to be found some of the wisest and best men 
in the nation, and that it was the purest pohtical 
party that ever existed in this country. 

Mr. Prescott lent his valuable services and coun- 
sels not only to the State, but to the cause of liberal 
education and sound learning. He was an Overseer 
of Harvard College from 1810 to 1821, and a Mem- 
ber of the Corporation from 1820 to 1826. He 
was also a Fellow of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences. In 1815, the University con- 
ferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of 
Laws, a distinction that was repeated by Dartmouth 
College in 1826. 

In the year 1828, after forty years' laborious 
practice of the Law, he was attacked with some 
complaints of the lungs, attended with bleeding; 
and the symptoms became so alarming, that the 
physicians imperatively required him to relinquish 
his professional career, at least so far as practising 
in Court. Though he continued for a year or two 
after this to give advice on important questions, as 
chamber-counsel, he at length wholly abandoned 
the exercise of his profession ; and we have it stated 
on the concurring testimony of the highest authority 
on the Bench and at the Bar,^ that "he had at- 
tained the highest rank in his profession, both as a 

' Chief Justice Shaw and Mr. Webster. 



17 

counsellor and an advocate," and that " at the mo- 
ment of his retirement from the Bar, he stood at its 
head, for legal learning and attainment." 

The remainder of his days he passed in the en- 
lightened occupations worthy of a great and good 
mind. His library furnished him with ample means 
for the most rational enjoyment. Here he would 
take up any particular question of a metaphysical, 
theological, or historical nature, and pursue it with 
all the ardor of a young inquirer after truth ; for 
truth was what he strived to attain through life, and 
which shone through his every word and act. The 
studies in which he took the greatest delight, were 
moral philosophy, theology, and civil history ; and 
the vast variety of his reading, and his careful medi- 
tation, as well as the natural bent of his mind, filled 
him with toleration for every sect and party. 

1 . In the removal of such a man as this, though 
in a good old age, a stay and a staff are taken away 
from Society, — whom he had so long and so faith- 
fully served, both in the walks of a laborious and 
responsible profession, and in the various public 
offices which he had filled in the city and in the 
State. He had served this community most effi- 
ciently, both in defending their rights at the Bar and 
in adjudicating upon them from the Bench. During 
his long professional career, with what untiring in- 
dustry, with what a conscientious fidelity did he 
devote himself to the interests of the numerous 

3 



18 

clients who sought the aid of his legal learning and 
fS^-udent counsel. 

The secret of the wide influence which Mr. Pres- 
cott exerted and the general esteem which he in- 
spired in this community, was unquestionably the 
entire confidence which was reposed in the sound- 
ness of his judgment and the integrity of his heart. 
Our citizens felt sure that his clear intellect could 
be dazzled or diverted by no false lights, and that 
his sense of duty and right could be warped by no 
sinister or selfish 'aims. It was believed that he was 
not only a skilful advocate, and a judicious counsel- 
lor, but a thoroughly honest and conscientious law- 
yer. It was this absolute confidence which led men 
to summon him to their sick-chambers and their 
death-beds, to indite their testaments, and to com- 
mit to him the arrangement of their affairs and the 
disposition of their property after their decease. 
He was a trusted, because he had been proved to be 
a trust-worthy man — passing on through life above 
suspicion, and without reproach. 

He was an honorable man, inasmuch as he was 
an independent, firm and courageous man. He 
was an echo of no one's opinions, a copyist of no 
one's doings. On all questions, moral, social, or 
political, he thought and spoke and acted for him- 
seif, not following the lead of any partisan, not fol- 
lowing even the multitude, in its wisdom or its folly. 
He did not shrink from the avowal of any sentiment 



19 

or the prosecution of any measure from the fear of 
any consequences that might result to himself per- 
sonally. He was afraid only of doing what was 
wronff. 

Regarding him as a statesman and a patriot, he 
died at a fortunate time for himself — at a moment- 
ous crisis in our affairs — out of which may God, 
in his infinite mercy, bring us with our national 
escutcheon unstained, and with no drops of blood 
upon our garments ! He was spared the shame and 
mortification of seeing our territory enlarged by the 
indefinite extension of slavery, with its intolerable 
evils and accursed wrongs. I say he died at a for- 
tunate time for himself; for the infirmities of age 
would have prevented him from taking an active 
part in the decisive measures necessary to check 
and prevent this great national calamity. Had this 
object been attempted some years ago, in the time 
of his vigorous manhood, he would have been among 
the first, I doubt not, to meet it, calmly, yet man- 
fully, and fearlessly. For he was a man of indom- 
itable moral courage. I have myself heard him say, 
that it behooved every New-England man, who con- 
sented to take a seat in the great council of the na- 
tion, to go there resolved to submit to no aftront to 
the North, and steadily to repel every encroachment 
on the rights of the free States. And was he not 
right ? Do we not need more such men there, at 
this crisis, as that " old man eloquent " and brave, 



20 

who has for so many years fought, almost single- 
handed, the battles of liberty against a host of foes, 
and has at last triumphantly vindicated the right of 
petition ? Do we not now greatly need the pru- 
dence, the calmness, and the courage of such men 
as William Prescott, who might tell us what we 
ought to be prepared to do in case this dreadful evil 
is fastened upon us ? Never has there been a time, 
since the first outbreak of the Revolution, when the 
wisdom of the ancient judge and the prudent coun- 
sellor was more needed. Yet, as I have intimated, 
God may have taken him away in mercy from wit- 
nessing this foul blot upon his country's character 
and honor. Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, men- 
tions it as some alleviation of his premature death, 
that he escaped the worst times, and did not see the 
courts of law closed, the senate surrounded with 
an armed force, and havoc and slaughter stalking 
through the land ; and then adds, " Tu vero, felix, 
Agricola, non vitse tantum claritate, sed etiam op- 
portunitate mortis." And may we not deem it 
fortunate, rather I should say providential, that our 
venerable friend did not live to see this dark deed 
consummated — did not live to see the constitution 
violated, or the union shaken to its centre, or the 
nation plunged into a foreign or a civil war ? 

" He sleeps well. 
Treason may do its worst ; nor steel, nor poison, 
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing 
Can reach him further." 



21 

2. Again. In the decease of this venerable man, 
a strong stay and staff is taken away from this 
Church. We lose in him one of our oldest and 
best parishioners — one of the firmest pillars and 
briglitest ornaments of our congregation. Judge 
Prescott connected himself with this parish on his 
coming to Boston in 1808, under the brilliant min- 
istry of Dr. Kirkland ; and from that day to this he 
has continued a steady supporter of our religious 
institutions, and, until prevented by illness and the 
infirmities of age, a regular and constant attendant 
upon our services of worship. In his earlier days 
he took an active part in managing the prudential 
affairs of the Society, and has always been ready by 
his counsels, his labors, and his purse, to promote 
its interests. You know, my friends, that he was 
ever among the foremost and largest contributors 
to the advancement of every good work proposed 
in our rehgious community. The Theological 
School at Cambridge and the Ministry to the Poor 
in this city have received often and largely from his 
bounty.^ And the cheerfulness with which he con- 
tributed to every object which he thought would 
promote the prosperity of this Church, rendered his 
gift doubly valuable, proving that it was indeed a 
gift of love. The last, and a very recent instance of 

' Among other legacies, Judge Prescott bequeathed five hundred 
dollars to the Boston Asylum for Female Orphans, and three thousand 
dollars to the Corporation of Harvard College, for the purchase of 
books for the Library. 



this kind, which will always be gratefully remem- 
bered by us, was his generous donation for the pur- 
chase of that noble Organ, which is now called, 
alas ! too soon, to chant his requiem. 

Judge Prescott is the last of that remarkable class 
of clear-headed and strong-minded men, all emi- 
grants from the county of Essex, whom this Church 
adopted, and fostered in her bosom, and is proud of 
enrolling among her children. Theophilus Par- 
sons, George Cabot, Nathaniel Bowditch, Wil- 
liam Prescott — I name them in the order of 
their decease — where will you find in any church 
among us another such brilliant galaxy of names — 
such a combination of talent, wisdom and virtue — 
men who have stamped their characters upon this 
community, and will be held here in everlasting 
remembrance ? 

Brethren, I love to reflect that such men have 
been of us and with us — that they have hved 
with us, and worshipped with us, and died with us 
— that they have been with us in heart and soul, in 
unity of religious sentiment and principle. And 
when doubts are at any time expressed in my hear- 
ing of the efficacy of our peculiar system of Chris- 
tian faith, I point to the characters of these men, 
formed under the influences of this faith and the in- 
structions of this pulpit. I say " By their fruits ye 
may know them. He that doeth righteousness is 
righteous." 



23 

My friends, it is a precious privilege which we 
of this ancient church enjoy, that we have a no- 
ble and sacred ancestry — that we can look back 
in our annals to hoary heads that have been found 
in tlie way of righteousness, to venerable names that 
make a part of the history of the commonwealth 
and country, and stand high on the rolls of juris- 
prudence and science. We have a glorious history, 
that yet remains to be written, and which will in- 
clude the biographies of the learned and eloquent 
ministers of this church, and of its eminent laymen, 
and of its cultivated and pious women, not a few — 
may the living ones return late to the stars ! — who 
have been full of good works and alms-deeds which 
they did. 

Let us cherish their memories — the memories of 
the sainted dead. Especially let the young men 
who are now coming on the stage of life, look to 
the example of integrity and lofty principle which 
these great and good men have left. Let them be 
taught by their success in life, by the enviable fame 
which they gained, and, more than all, by the affec- 
tion and reverence which are cherished for their 
memories, and by the tears and regrets with which 
they were followed to their graves, — that the only 
path of honor is the path of virtue, — and that if 
they would be remembered hereafter, they must first 
be respected and loved by a Hving generation whom 
they have served and blessed. 



24 

3. But a stay and staff has been taken away not 
only from this church, but from its Pastor. Judge 
Prescott has ahvays been not only a valuable mem- 
ber of this parish, but a steady friend and unwaver- 
ing supporter of its ministers. He was the model 
of a good parishioner — wise, considerate, sympa- 
thizing, kind. My illustrious predecessors in this 
honored place, Kirkland, Thacher, Greenwood, suc- 
cessively enjoyed the benefit of his counsels and 
affections. And for myself I am bound to say that 
in him I lose my greatest benefactor in the parish. 
I can almost literally apply to myself the words of 
Roger iVscham, when speaking of the death of his 
patron. " In the midst," says he, " of outward in- 
juries and inward cares, to increase them withal, 
good Sir Richard Sackville dieth ; — that worthy 
gentleman ; that earnest favorer and furtherer of 
God's true religion ; that faithful servitor to his 
prince and country ; — a lover of learning and all 
learned men ; wise in all doings, courteous to all 
persons, showing spite to none, doing good to 
many ; and, as I well found, to me so fast a friend, 
as I never lobt the hke before. When he was gone, 
my heart was dead. There was not one that wore 
a black gown for him, who carried a heavier heart 
than I." When I was settled in this parish twenty 
years ago, an inexperienced young man, ready to 
sink under the crushing labors and responsibilities 
of the place, Judge Prescott took me kindly by the 



25 

hand ; and that hand was never afterwards with- 
drawn. His countenance and encouragement have 
often strengthened my heart and nerved my soul 
amidst the trials and anxieties of my professional 
life. In this way I have been laid under a load of 
obligation which now I can never hope to discharge. 
But if I forget it, let my tongue cleave to the roof 
of my mouth, and my right arm fall palsied from its 
socket. 

4. Finally. In the decease of our lamented friend, 
a stay and staff has been taken away from his Fa- 
mily. How great a loss they have thus sustained, 
they alone can understand. That loss is enhanced 
by the circumstances of his life, and the dispositions 
and qualities of his heart. That life had been, for 
the most part, a quiet and uneventful one, and 
therefore all the happier. His social and domestic 
affections were strong and tender. He loved his 
home, and the circle of his chosen friends, more 
than the conflicts of ambition and the scenes of po- 
litical strife. And although he was ready to make 
sacrifices of personal ease and enjoyment for the 
common good, yet he was always glad to be re- 
leased from public cares, that he might spend his 
evenings around his own fireside, in the bosom of 
his family. 

He lived to enjoy a serene and happy old age. 
Never has it been my privilege to witness one more 
tranquil and delightful. His last years, which with 



26 

the old man are usually a burden and a toil, were 
amongst the best and happiest of his happy hfe. 
How much pure ani rational enjoyment did he re- 
ceive, and how much did he impart, in his truly 
patriarchal abode, in the midst of his children's 
children ! It was in his old age, too, that a grateful 
country honored him for the services which his fa- 
mily, in three successive generations, had rendered 
it by the sword, the tongue, and the pen. Fortu- 
nate indeed was he in the ascendina: and the de- 
scending hue of his generation ; looking backward 
with filial admiration to the brightening fame of his 
brave progenitor, and forward .with paternal pride 
to the widening reputation of a descendant who, by 
his writings, has done so much to instruct and de- 
light the world. ^ 

Our venerated fellow-worshipper died suddenly, 
on the morning of the last Lord's day, without a 
struggle or a pang, in the full possession of his fa- 
culties, and with a hope full of immortality, in the 
83d year of his age. 

" Of no distemper, of no blast he died ; 
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long ; 
E'en wondered at because he dropped no sooner. 
Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years ; 
Yet freshly ran he on two winters more : 
Till, like a clock worn out with eating time. 
The wheels of weary life at last stood still." 

' William H. Prescott, Esq., the author of the " History of the 
Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic," and of the " History 
of the Conquest of Mexico." 



27 

It has been affectionately and beautifully said by 
another/ that " the objects on which his eyes were 
fixed, for the last time, before they should be closed 
to open no more, were the objects nearest and 
dearest to his affections and his heart. This must 
have been as he could have wished. He could not 
but have prayed, that, with a body unracked by 
disease, an unclouded mind, and a perfect con- 
sciousness, he might enjoy this, as his last earthly 
wish. Not unmindful of the approach of that 
change, which was to call him to another state of 
being, he met the 'moment, when at last it came, 
with serenity, and submitted himself to the will of 
his Creator with cheerfulness and trust." 

Such a departure was a euthanasia indeed — a 
fitting close to such a career. 

A life, a character, a death like this, need no 
comment from me to explain or enforce their les- 
sons. I leave them to make their own impression. 

** Why weep ye then for him, who, having won 
The bound of man's appointed years, at last, 
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done, 

Serenely to his final rest has past ; 
While the soft memory of his virtues, yet, 
Lingers like twilight hues, when the bright sun is set. 

" His youth was innocent ; his riper age 

Marked with some act of goodness every day ; 
And watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage, 
Faded his late declining years away. 

* Mr. Webster. 



28 



Cheerful he gave his being up, and went 

To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent. 

" That life was happy ; every day he gave 
Thanks for the fair existence that was his ; 

For a sick fancy made him not her slave, 
To mock him with her phantom miseries. 

No chronic tortures racked his aged limb, 

For luxury and sloth had nourished none for him. 

" And I am glad that he has lived thus long, 
And glad that he has gone to his reward ; 

Nor deem that kindly nature did him wrong, 
Softly to disengage the vital cord. 

When his weak hand grew palsied, and his eye 

Dim with the mists of age, it was his time to die." 



APPENDIX. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUFFOLK BAR. 

A MEETING of the Suffolk Bar was held in the Law Library, on 
Tuesday morning, December 10th, 1844, It was called to order 
by Charles P. Curtis, Esq. and proceeded to the choice of a 
President and Secretary, pro tem. 

The Hon. Jeremiah Mason was chosen President of the 
meeting, and William H. Gardiner, Esq. Secretary. 

The Hon. Daniel Webster then made some appropriate re- 
marks, substantially as follows : — 

Mr. President and Brethren of the Suffolk Bar : 

We have met together on one of those solemn occasions, com- 
mon to so numerous a body, but which must, in this instance, 
cause an unusual degree of regret and pain. The oldest member 
of our Association has departed this life. He had lived to an 
extraordinary age, and though retired for many years from active 
life, he was known and respected by all of us ; to some of us 
known very long and intimately. No man has ever lived among 
us, of more amiable demeanour, or purer character. No man has 
ever possessed, in a more eminent degree, those qualities which 
create public confidence for the members of this profession. 
William Prescott was a man, whose integrity was incorrupti- 
ble, and whose manners were most gentle and kind ; but whose 
firmness of principle, and at the same time independence of 
character, were never to be questioned. It is fit that they, who 
have not only known, but who, as members of a common pro- 
fession, have been honored by his virtues, should now do honor 



30 



to his memory. I have been requested, a few moments since, to 
move Resolutions, appropriate to this occasion, and I cheerfully 
comply ; for though there has been little time for their prepara- 
tion, and none for premeditated remarks, no length of time can 
be needful for the purpose of expressing, in a simple and re- 
spectful form, our affectionate reverence for the character of our 
deceased brother. 

Mr. Webster then moved the following Resolutions, which 
were seconded by the Hon. James Savage, and unanimously 
adopted. 

Resolved, That the members of this Bar have heard, with sincere sor- 
row, of a recent mournful event, which strikes from the head of their 
roll, a name which they had long been accustomed to venerate. 

Resulved, That the late Wili.iam Prescott, whose sudden decease, 
at a good old age, calls forth this tribute of respect, presented to his as- 
sociates, throughout a long life, whether at the Bar, or on the Bench, 
or in the dignified retirement of his late years, such an eminent exauj_ple 
of modest talent, substantial learning, and unpretending wisdom, with 
affable manners, strong social affections, absolute fidelity in every rela- 
tion of life, and probity beyond' the slightest suspicion of reproach, as 
rarely adorns even the highest walks of professional excellence. Con- 
cerning whom may it be more appropriately asked than of him, 

" Cui Pudor, et Justitite soror, 
Incorrupta Fides, nudaque Veritas, 
Quando uUum invcnient parem ? " 

Resolved, That the members of this Bar will long cherish the memory 
of the character of their deceased brother, as an honor to his profession, 
a model to themselves, and an example of virtue and excellence to all. 

Resolved, therefore, That the members of this Bar tender their re- 
spectful sympathies to the family of the deceased, and respectfully ask 
permission to attend the funeral of their late oldest associate. 

Resolved, That the President and Secretary of this meeting be re- 
quested to present to the family a certified copy of these proceedings. 

Resolved, That the same officers also cause the proceedings of this 
meeting to be communicated to the Honorable the Justices of the 
Supreme Judicial Court, now in session. 



31 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPRExME COURT. 

The death of the Hon. William Prescott was announced 
in the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, December 11th, 
by Mr. Websteii, who presented the Resolutions which had 
been adopted by the Bar, with the following remarks : — 

♦• 
May it please your Honors : ^ 

I rise to perform a duty, of a kind new to me here, and as 
sad as it is new. I rise, in behalf of the Bar of the County of 
Suffolk, to communicate to the Court its proceedings on a late 
mournful occurrence. The oldest member of that Bar is now 
no naore. William Prescott has departed this life. He died 
suddenly, at his own house, and in the bosom of his family, on 
Sunday morning, the 8th instant, without pain, and without loss 
of faculties, or mental aberration, at the age of eighty-two. 

The ot)jects, on which his eyes were fixed, for the last time, 
before they should be closed to open no more, were the objects 
nearest and dearest to his affections and his heart. This must 
have been as he could have wished. He could not but have 
prayed, that, with a body unracked by pain, an unclouded mind, 
and a perfect consciousness, he might enjoy this, as his last 
earthly vision. 

Not unmindful of the approach of that change, which was to 
call him to another state of being, Re met the moment, when at 
last it came, with serenity, and submitted himself to the will of 
his Creator with cheerfulness and trust. 

Mr. Prescott retired from the practice of the Bar in 1828 ; 
and it will not be thought in any degree unjust to others, to say, 
that at the moment of his retirement, he stood at its head, for 
legal learning and attainment. 

Although thus withdrawn, for several years, from the active 
scenes of his profession, yet, having constantly cherished a warm 
interest for its character and usefulness, and derived pleasure, as 
great and as sincere as those felt who were younger, from every 
evidence of the advancement of the noble science of Jurispru- 
dence, his brethren of the Bar could not but feel the magnitude 



of the loss which they have sustained by his death ; nor could 
they withhold the tender of a sincere and affectionate tribute 
to his character. 

Others know, and will record, his worth in other relations of 
life. We contemplate him, on this occasion, only as he stood, 
for a long time, among us, as a Lawyer and an Advocate, and 
for a short period sat before us, as a Judge. 

Assembled in full meeting yesterday, the Bar of Suffolk unan- 
imously adopted these Resolutions. 

In the necessary absence of our learned brother, the President 
of the meeting, and at his request, and that of the Secretary, 
I now communicate these proceedings to the Justices of the 
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, here sitting ; and 
respectfully beg leave to say, that it would gratify the feelings 
of the members of the Bar, if the Court would relieve them from 
their attendance on their duties before it to-day, that they may 
all have an opportunity to follow the remains of their lamented 
brother to the tomb. 

To this address Chief Justice Shaw replied as follows : — 

Gentlemen of the Bar : 

This Court receive, with the deepest sensibility, these Resolu- 
tions of the Bar, and do most sincerely sympathize with the 
members of the Bar, and the people of this community, in the 
emotions of sorrow with which they have been struck, by the 
sudden, melancholy, and impressive event, to which these pro- 
ceedings relate. 

The decease of such a man as Mr. Prescott, so long known, 
so highly and universally respected, and so sincerely loved, 
though at an advanced age, though withdrawn from the con- 
spicuous stations of public life, which he so long held and 
adorned, cannot occur without a severe shock to the feelings of 
those who survive. Such feelings are natural ; they are not 
without their beneficial uses ; and, to a certain extent, it is fit 
that they should be indulged. It is fit that those, who are still 
engaged in the more active and absorbing duties of professional 
and official life, should pause, to receive with deference and 
submission, the monitory lesson it imparts, to pay a just and 



33 

heartfelt tribute to the memory of a deceased brother, and pre- 
pare for the great change, in which they are so soon to follow 
him. 

Mr. Prescott was most known as a lawyer, at once learned 
and practical. By persevering industry, by an ardent devotion 
to his high and responsible duties, without extraordinary advan- 
tages, he had attained the highest rank in his profession, both as 
a counsellor and an advocate. 

He was distinguished for patient investigation, for great power 
of discrimination, and practical sagacity, in separating what was 
essential from what was accidental, in whatever was presented 
for his consideration. But to these characteristics of an emi- 
nent jurist, he added the crowning grace, without which all 
other qualities must fail to command the confidence of others, 
that of professional integrity. It was a full reliance upon his 
known purity and singleness of purpose, which induced all those 
who had occasion for counsel and assistance to believe, with 
entire confidence, that in his care their dearest rights and most 
important interests would be safe. These slight, but highly 
gratifying views of his professional character, views which, if 
the time and opportunity would permit, might be greatly ex- 
tended, while they bring back a grateful and vivid recollection 
of his excellence to those who were contemporary with him, and 
knew him personally, present a bright example to those members 
of the profession who have entered on its honorable career since 
his retirement. 

But although Mr. Prescott devoted most of the active part of 
his life, and the energies of his mind, to the duties of the profes- 
sion he loved, yet he was not unknown to his countrymen as 
a patriot and statesman. Though mostly regarded by the peo- 
ple as the trusted counsellor and faithful advocate of their 
personal and private interests, yet when the emergency called, 
when their public rights and social interests were in peril, he 
was looked to as the advocate and supporter of these great in- 
terests ; nor was he looked to in vain. He was surpassed by no 
man in that purity of purpose and disinterestedness, that sterling 
integrity and unyielding resolution, in support of what he con- 
sidered right, which are among the highest qualities of a sage 
and patriot. 

5 



34 



Of Mr. Piiescott's private life and character, gratifying as it 
would be, it does not become me to speak upon this occasion. 
It is sufficient, and it is gratifying to know, that since his retire- 
ment from the duties of his profession, he has passed an elegant 
leisure in those intellectual occupations and literary pursuits, 
which a life of honorable and useful industry had prepared him 
to enjoy, and in those graver studies which befit the dignity, and 
add brightness to the prospects of advancing years. 

The Court will pass an order that the proceedings of the Bar 
be entered on their record, as a memorial to future times of the 
respect and veneration in which our lamented brother was held, 
and will adjourn ' till to-morrow, to enable us personally to join 
with the Bar in paying our tribute of respect to his memory, by 
attending his remains to the tomb. 

I The Court were at tliis time engaged in a capital trial. 



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